Introduction
Schaumburg-Lippe is a historical German state that lay between the Weser and Leine rivers (without touching either), and was bounded on the south by the Weser mountains and crossed in the north by the Rehburger mountains. Geographically it extended from 52°12' to 52°30' north latitude and from 8°58' to 9°26' east longitude, with an area of 340 square kilometers.

Population of Schaumburg-Lippe by Year

Year

Population

1766

17,000

1786

18,500

1800

c20,000

1816

26,000

1836

26,400

1855

30,000

1871

32,059

1875

33,133

1880

35,374

1895

41,224

1900

43,132

1905

44,992

1925

48,046

1933

49,955

1939

53,277

Occupations practiced in Schaumburg-Lippe in 1907

Occupation

Number

Farming, gardening, animal husbandry, forestry, and fishing

11,568

Industry, including mining and construction

22,031

Commerce and transportation, including hostelry and innkeeping

5,215

Household occupations, also odd jobs

250

Public service, independent occupations

2,071

No occupation given

3,909

Political Divisions (Counties, Cities, Communities)
As of 1912, Schaumburg-Lippe had two cities not belonging to any county (kreisfreie Städte):

Stadthagen, until 1606 capital of Grafschaft Schaumburg, city since 1344;

and two counties (Kreise):

Kreis Bückeburg, formerly the Ämter Bückeburg and Arensburg, in the west, and

Kreis Stadthagen, formerly the Ämter Stadthagen and Hagenburg, in the east.

Religious Divisions

Schaumburg-Lippe has been predominantly evangelical Lutheran since 1559, with 19 parishes in the Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Schaumburg-Lippe, a member of the Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands (VELKD). Until 1918, the bishop of the state church was the prince; the administrative body was the consistory in Bückeburg. The church publishes the Kirchliches Amtsblatt für die Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Schaumburg-Lippe. A list of parishes, pastors, and churchbooks is available.

Evangelical-reformed communities exist in Bückeburg and Stadthagen. The ruling house belonged to this faith. These churches are also included in the list of parishes, pastors, and churchbooks.

Catholic communities exist in Bückeburg (1719-), Helpsen, and Stadthagen (1883-), and starting 1846 were under the direction of the bishop of Osnabrück. They now belong to the diocese of Hildesheim. The churchbooks are included in the list of parishes, pastors, and churchbooks.

Jewish families lived throughout the principality. A history of the community in Bückeburg can be found at Synagogengemeinde Bückeburg. Other congregations existed in Hagenburg, Stadthagen, and Steinhude.

Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the smallest German states until the end of World War II. It was formed after the 30-Years War, when Graf Otto V of Schaumburg died without issue. The older and larger Grafschaft Schaumburg went to his mother, Gräfin Elisabeth as the only legal heir, who in 1643 transferred her rights to her brother, Graf Philipp zur Lippe-Alverdissen, with whom she ruled as coregent until her death in 1646. In this period the Grafschaft Schaumburg began to be divided: the Grafschaft Pinneberg (in Holstein) was transferred to the King of Denmark, the Herrschaft Bergen (in Holland) was sold, Gehmen (in Westphalia) was transferred to the Graf von Limburg, and the Grafschaft Sternberg fell to Lippe.

Finally in 1647, after many territorial demands made by neighboring states, the Landgraf von Hessen and Graf Phillip zur Lippe-Alverdissen decided to divide the Grafschaft Schaumburg. Braunschweig-Lüneburg took the Ämter Lauenau, Mesmerode, and Bokeloh. Hessen received the Ämter Schaumburg and Rodenberg (which together included the towns of Rinteln, Obernkirchen, Rodenberg and Oldendorf), as well as a part of the Amt Sachsenhagen; this area in Hessen was called the Kreis Grafschaft Schaumburg. The remaining area, including the Ämter Bückeburg, Arensburg, Stadthagen, Hagenburg, and part of Sachsenhagen, formed the new Grafschaft Schaumburg-Lippe. Three things remained common property between Schaumburg-Lippe and Hessen: the Universität Rinteln (until 1665), the Weser river tolls (until 1734), and the Obernkirchen, Stadthagen, and Sülbeck coal mines (until 1940). This division was codified in the Peace of Münster.

The rulers of Schaumburg-Lippe had their seat and the family still has their residence at the Schloß Bückeburg. They also have or had manors or properties at the Burg Schaumburg (Weser), the Schloß Alverdissen, the Arensburg, Hagenburg (summer residence), Stadthagen (until 1919), the Schloß Baum, the Burg Blomberg (until 15 Feb 1962), the Palais Schaumburg in Bonn (from 1891-1939; it was later the official residence and office of the German chancellor from 1949 to 1976), the Grosse Klus, the Schloß Vietgest, the Schloss Pejacevic in Virovitica Croatia (mid 19th century-1911), and the Schloss Klaus (1878-1940). Genealogical data concerning the house of Schaumburg-Lippe can be found in the accompanying list of Schaumburg-Lippe Nobility. Less complete information can also be found in the Internet Gotha, and some of the family members can also be found in the royals databases at Hull and PSU.

The rulers of Schaumburg-Lippe and their years of reign(Succession from father to son except as noted.)

Ruler

Years of reign

Notes

Philipp

1643-1681

first Graf zu Schaumburg-Lippe and progenitor of the Schaumburg-Lippe-Alverdissen line

Extraterritorial regions in personal union under the Schaumburg-Lippe line

Region

Period

Lipperode

1648-1748

Amt Alverdissen

1648-1681, 1777-1812

Amt Blomberg

1737-1838

Schieder

1748-1793

Minister Presidents of the state of Schaumburg-Lippe

Name

Period

Friedrich Freiherr von Feilitzsch

1 Oct 1918 - 3 Dec 1918

Heinrich Lorenz

4 Dec 1918 - Mar 1919

O. Bönners

14 Mar 1919 - May 1922

K. Wippermann

22 May 1922 - May 1925

E. Steinbrecher (SPD)

28 May 1925 - Jun 1926

E. Steinbrecher

26 Jun 1926 - Oct 1927

Heinrich Lorenz

7 Oct 1927 - Jun 1928

Heinrich Lorenz

14 Jun 1928 - 29 Jun 1931

Heinrich Lorenz

29 Jun 1931 - 7 Mar 1933

Hans Joachim Riecke (NSDAP)

1 Apr 1933 - 23 May 1933

Karl Dreier (NSDAP)

25 May 1933 - Mar 1945

In 1743, Schaumburg-Lippe joined Maria Theresia of Austria and troops from Holland and England in their war against France and Bavaria. They took part in the battles of Dettingen (1743), Fontenoy (1745), Raucoux (1746), and Laffeld (1747).

Schaumburg-Lippe sided with King George II of England (also Prince Electorate of Hannover) and thus with Frederick the Great of Prussia in the Seven Years' War (1756-1763) against France. The Schaumburg-Lippe troops under Graf Wilhelm were under the command of the Duke of Cumberland and then Duke Ferdinand von Braunschweig, and participated in the siege of Minden in 1757 and the battle of Minden in 1759. Bückeburg was occupied by the French between these two Minden actions. Further actions were undertaken at the battle of Marburg Castle (1759), the siege of Münster (1760), the relief of Kassel (1761), and the battle of Hamm (1761). In 1761, Graf Wilhelm started the construction of Wilhelmstein, a fortress on an artificial island in the Steinhuder Meer. (The military school in this fortress was later to produce the famous General Scharnhorst.) Graf Wilhelm also took his Schaumburg-Lippers with the English army to Portugal in 1762-3, where he was the commander-in-chief of the combined Portuguese/British/Schaumburg-Lippisch army. He successfully defended Portugal against Spain and modernized Portugal's military. The Portuguese Fort de la Lippe (now known as the Forte da Graça), near Elvas, was established by him and named in his honor. Graf Wilhelm ordered the first Schaumburg-Lippe census, held in 1766.

At the death of Graf Philipp-Ernst, his wife Juliane became regent for their young son Georg-Wilhelm. Landgraf Wilhelm IX von Hessen-Kassel claimed that because Juliane was not sufficienly highborn to claim inheritance for herself or her children due to her supposed morganatic ancestry, he was the rightful liege lord of Schaumburg-Lippe, and used this as a pretext to invade Schaumburg-Lippe on 17 Feb 1787, occupying all except for the Wilhelmstein. But the Imperial Court in Vienna recognized the high birth of Juliane and ordered the Landgraf to cease his illegal invasion and withdraw, which he did after a two-month occupation.

Schaumburg-Lippe was originally a county (Grafschaft), but to protect its independence it joined the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund) on 18 April 1807 and thereupon became a principality (Fürstentum). Schaumburg-Lippe was required to field 280 troops for Napoleon; they took part in the march on Russia in 1812. After the defeat of Napoleon at Leipzig in October 1813, the Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved, and Schaumburg-Lippe joined the nations allied against Napoleon. It joined the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) in 1815, and fielded a batallion of 240 men and 120 reservists. (These troops were later used in the maneuvers in Schleswig-Holstein in 1849, and as occupation forces in Luxemburg in 1859.) In November 1837, Schaumburg-Lippe joined the fiscal union of the northeastern German states (Steuerverein). In 1845, Schaumburg-Lippe joined Prussia, Hannover, and the Electorate of Hessen in building a rail line from Hannover to Minden. In 1854, Schaumburg-Lippe joined the German-Austrian Postal Union (Postverein) and the Prussian Customs Union (Zollverein). In 1866, Schaumburg-Lippe joined Prussia in a military treaty, and in 1867 in military union, whereafter the Schaumburgers served in the Prussian military. In 1867, Schaumburg-Lippe became a member of the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund). In 1871, Schaumburg-Lippe participated in the unification of Germany.

After World War I, the constitution of the Weimar Republic required that the rule of the prince give way, so he renounced the throne on 15 November 1918. A temporary constitution was drawn in 1919, and a final, republican and democratic one in 1922. Schaumburg-Lippe became a republic (Freistaat), headed by a state president since 1933. This democratic government was later suppressed during Nazi rule. After World War II, the British military occupation government order number 55 of 1 November 1946 decreed the union of Schaumburg-Lippe, Hannover, Braunschweig, and Oldenburg to form the new state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The former principality of Schaumburg-Lippe then constituted the Kreis Schaumburg-Lippe, until the Kreisreform of 1 August 1977, when it joined with the Kreis Grafschaft Schaumburg to form the current Landkreis Schaumburg. This border reform also incorporated Wiedensahl into the county, but excluded Steinhude and the region near Frille.

The archived church records were transferred to the Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Bückeburg, where they are held, though they are still owned by the church. Microfiche copies of the church records are available at the Staatsarchiv for public research, and duplicate copies may also be purchased for records up to the year 1870. Although no catalog of the microfiche themselves has been issued, there is a list of the available records by parish and year (not by volume or fiche). The page also lists the pastors for each church.

Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirchengemeinde

The archived church records are also held by the Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Bückeburg. Microfiche copies of the church records are available at the Staatsarchiv for public research, and duplicate copies may also be purchased for records up to the year 1870. Although no catalog of the microfiche themselves has been issued, there is a list of the available records by parish and year (not by volume or fiche).

Literature
One book will be recommended here as being useful, readable, and available. Its major fault is that it appeared in 1912 and necessarily neglects history that had not yet been made. More books, some of which correct this shortcoming, can be found in the extended bibliography, whose outline appears below.

Schaumburg-Lippe used the Julian calendar until 1700, and the Protestant (the so-called "improved") calendar thereafter. In 1700 the calendar jumped from 18 February to 1 March (i.e., 19 February = 1 March). The Protestant calendar differed from the Gregorian calendar only in the determination of Easter and its associated moveable holidays, and then only in 1724 and 1744, when Easter was a week earlier than in the Gregorian calendar. This difference was eliminated in 1775, when the Protestant church decided to follow the Gregorian determination of Easter. This decision became official for the whole of the Holy Roman Empire on 7 June 1776.

Publishers

Professional researchers

Customs

Folk costumes (Trachten) in Schaumburg-Lippe fall into these categories:

Thomas Abbt (1738-1766), philosopher, lived his last year in Bückeburg. Of him Herder wrote that he "died for Germany and for his language too early!"

Friedrich Christian Accum (1769-1838), industrial and food chemist born in Bückeburg, developed sal ammonia and lighting gas processes, making public gas lighting possible.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795), "der Bückeburger Bach", son of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach. Composer and virtuoso keyboardist. From 1750 (six months before his father died) until his own death he was chamber musician and concertmaster in Bückeburg. He also collaborated with Herder.

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759-1845), son of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach and the only grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach to gain fame as a composer. Music director to Friedrich Wilhelm II. He said "Heredity can tend to run out of ideas."

Dr. Rudolf Bensen (1841-1921), regional poet.

Anton Friedrich Büsching (1724-1793), German geographer and educator, born in Stadthagen. He was the founder of the St. Peters Gymnasium in St. Petersburg. He helped develop a scientific basis for the study of geography by stressing statistics rather than descriptive writing. He was married to the poetess Polyxene Christiane Auguste Dilthey.

Wilhelm Busch (1832-1908), painter, poet, and, most importantly, cartoonist. Author of Max und Moritz and other pictorial narratives with verse text, he is known as the inventor of the comic strip. Born in Wiedensahl, Busch spent much time in Schaumburg-Lippe.

Arthur Conrad Ernsting (1709-1768), doctor, balneologist, botanist. He made the first medical use of the Bad Nenndorf springs.

Eberhard David Hauber (1695-1765), theologian, pastor in Stadthagen, superintendant of the county of Schaumburg-Lippe, geographer, historian, Büsching's teacher.

Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744-1803), German poet, critic, theologian, and philosopher. He was the leading figure of the Sturm und Drang literary movement. He was the head pastor and court preacher at Bückeburg from 1771 to 1776, where some of his important works were written.

The brothers Friedrich and Wilhelm Havemeyer, who emigrated from Schaumburg-Lippe in 1802, were the progenitors of the American Havemeyer family, the famous Sugar Kings who ran the American Sugar Refining Company. William Havemeyer (1804-1874), the thrice-elected mayor of New York City, helped form a volunteer regiment, composed mostly of German immigrants, during the Civil War.

Fredrick Nerge, born in Reinsdorf (Schaumburg-Hessen, actually), suggested the name of Schaumburg (Illinois, USA), which was founded in an area rich with emigrants from Schaumburg-Lippe.